Photography was by no means an easy medium for reproducing the natural world in the nineteenth century, with different exposures needed to render sky, sea, land or foliage. The pioneers mastered the constraints of their medium, and their works transformed the way we see the landscape. This book traces the stages they went through in mastering landscape photography, using images taken between 1840 and 1890 from the Musée d’Orsay’s rich collections of the photography of this period.

The book also features an introduction to landscape photography, detailed catalogue entries for each photograph featured, and a selected bibliography.

Part of an exciting new photography series, co-published by the Musée d’Orsay.

From the Publisher

The photographic collection of the Musée d’Orsay was put together in the late 1970s when the museum was created. It now contains over 55,000 prints and negatives ranging from the early days of photography to 1914. A permanent gallery was opened in Autumn 2002 to display this outstanding set of works. The Photography at Orsay series, co-published by 5 Continents Editions and the Musée d’Orsay, accompanies thematic exhibitions held at the gallery. It offers an affordable set of reference works on photography written by the museum’s specialists and illustrated with works displayed in the exhibitions, which in many cases have been reproduced for the first time.